how do you brush babies teeth when they continue to grab the brush from you and close their mouth?!

Rachael - posted on 05/06/2010
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my baby boy has 3 teeth on the bottom and every morning n night i have the same struggle trying to brush them! he will try and grab the brush from me,and if i don't let him he pulls his head away and won't open his mouth,so sometimes i only manage to get a bit of toothpaste on them.ive tried giving him something else to hold but he still wont let me brush them! any ideas?

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Emelee - posted on 05/13/2010

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my son tried the same thing so tried the "teething brush" its sold at Walmart it is a finger cover that has little brushers on it. They cant take it away and if you put the fruit flavored toddler paste on it they will let you brush. I used it on my son and now hes 3 and brushes his own teeth every night because he likes the feeling of clean teeth.

at this age it's more for getting them to get used to brushing. And I heard that a dentist say that if the child just chews on the brush that is enough.

What I did with my son was when i brush my teeth I'd show him how I brushed my teeth, then I'd brush his. After a while he now loves to brush his teeth and puts a fit when you take the brush away! If you'r doing it too, he may be more willing to give it a try.

Just let him chew on it. He is not used to the "new thing" you are trying to put in his mouth. Just sit with him on your lap so you can keep an eye on him and let him chew away. He will get used to the feeling of this "thing" in his mouth and you can work at s-l-o-w-l-y introducing the brushing part. Don't worry about rotten teeth. That won't happen at this age, unless you are putting him to sleep with a bottle in his mouth. Good luck. And remember to take it slow, it will be OK.

My daughter is very independent and has never wanted me to brush her teeth (beyond the early days when I used the brush on my finger). We use and electric toothbrush and I make sure there is toothpaste on it. There are some days that it seems like she does more chewing than actual brushing. She has a cousin (who is 4 months older than her) and when they brush them together they seem to brush longer than if she is in the bathroom with me when I brush my teeth.

As awful as it sounds, my dentist told me to hold my daughter and make her cry so that I could do her teeth. My other, better suggestion is to try to do hand over hand, have your son hold on to the tooth brush and then put your hand over his so that he can help you brush his teeth. You might need to let him "help" you brush yours first.

My daughter does pretty much the same thing. I usually brush my own teeth and let her hold onto her toothbrush and sometimes that actually gets her to brush her own because she wants to be like mommy and do what mommy does. Try brushing your teeth and see if he follows what you do. If not then just try to get a few brushes in before he closes his mouth on you.